christenson



WITNESS May 29, 1923. 1,456,882

K- CHRISTENSON ROAD MACHINE Filed Jan. 1921 '5 Sheets-Sheet l hnur Chrisienwn INVENTUR A TTDHHEYS May 29, 1923.

. K. CHRISTENSON ROAD MACHINE Filed Jan. 4. 1921 WITNESSES IN VENTOR Hnut Christensen.

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4 TTOHNEYS 2 w m w m Q 5 a 1 W h s 5 w m S w NN. EH4 TC. su m A cmm l K F a w 1 9 2 O H m M INVENTOR WITNESSES ATTORNEYS Patented May 29, 1923.

UNITED STATES KNUT CHRISTENSON, OF BENEDICT, NORTH DAKOTA.

ROAD MACHINE.

Application filed January 4, 1921. I Serial No. 434,914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. KNU'r (hims'rnNsoN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Benedict, in the county of McLean and State of North Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Road lvlachines, of which the following is a specification.

The prcsent invention relates to road machines.

The object of the invention is to provide a machine of this character which is adapted to carry out road building or repairing operations, which is effective in operation to loosen. distribute and pack the material constituting the roadway, which is flexible in its action and easily controlled and which. is simple and durable in construction, reliable in operation and easy and inexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of the invention reside in certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, and in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the machine embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view thereof;

Figure 3 is a rear elevational View, parts being broken away for the sake of illustration;

Figure 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view on line 4-4 of Figure 2, parts being broken away and shown in section for the sake of illustration;

Figure 5 is a detail view, partly in plan and partly in horizontal section of the power plant transmission;

Figure 6 is a. detail view, partly in elevation and partly in section of the transmission clutch control;

Figure 7 is a detail view, in elevation, of the hopper and associated mechanism, parts being broken away for the sake of illustration;

Figure 8 is a detail view. partly in section and partly in elevation of the worm drive for the operating means of the dump doors;

Figure 9 is a detail view, partly in side elevation and partly in section of the meeting ends of the conveyors and supports therefor;

Figure 10 is a detail view, in side elevation of the clutch control for the lateral conveyor drive;

Figure 11 is a similar view on line 7 'y of Figure 10.

Figure 12 is a detail view of the pawl and ratchet mechanism. for the winding shaft.

Referring to the drawings wherein for the sake of illustration is shown the preferred embodiment of the invention, the numeral 10 designates a main frame supported upon a traction drum 11 by means of depending bearings 12 cooperating with the trunnions 13 of the traction drum and upon the steering wheels 14 of the stub axle type arranged at one end of the frame.

A plow or other suitable earth. working element, designated at 15, is arranged at each side of the frame and between the frame and the ground. Independent controlling means is provided for each plow or earth working element and as these controlling means are identical a common description will serve for both. The beam 16 of each plow is slidably received in a yoke 17 which depends from the frame 10. The yoke 17 serves to limit the downward move- Inent of the plow and to positively support the plow in its lowermost position. Levers 18 and 19 are provided and are pivotally connected at one end to each other and to the extremity of the beam of the plow, as shown at .30 and operate to control the depth of cut. The end of the lever 18 remote from the pivotal connection 20 is pivotally secured, as at 21, to the bracket 22 fixed to the main frame. The end of the lever 19 remote from the pivotal connection 20 is itself pivotally connected, as at 23, to one arm of a bell crank lever 24 fulcrumed upon a pedestal 25 supported upon the main frame and controlled from a hand lever 27 by means of a connecting rod 28 pivotally secured at one end to the hand lever and at the opposite end to the other arm of the bell crank lever. The hand lever 27 is maintained in position by means of a manually operated pawl 29 carried by the hand lever and a segmental rack 30 carried by the frame and adapted to cooperate with the pawl. It is obvious that as the hand lever 27 is adjusted to the right or left (see Figure 2) the point of the low is depressed or elevated, respectively by virtue of the action of the toggle constituted by the levers 18 and 19 and of the bell crank and connecting rod which transmits the motion of the hand lever to end. of the frame 10.

the toggle. A superstructure or frame is arrai'iged upon the main frame at a point above and adjacent the earth working elements. Horizontal shafts 36 are rotatably journaled in the superstructure. Thereis one such shaft for each earth working ele ment so that these shafts in the present embodiment number two, there being one for each plow 15. A winding drum 37 is fixed to each shaft 36 and a cable 38 is, arranged upon each winding drum, one end of each cable liieingconnected to the winding drum. and the opposite end being connected by means ofa clevis 39 to the beam of the underlying .plow. Hand wheels 40 are fixed to the endsof the horizontal shafts 36. It is obvious that by rotating the hand wheels 40 the clevis 39 which constitutes the point of. support orfulcruin of the plow. beams maybe varied as the clevis may thus be raised or lowered vertically as desired. The clevis and its operating means coacts with the, toggle etc. in controlling the depth of the cut in all positions except the lowermost position of: the plow, at which time the yoke 17 constitutes the point of support or fulcrum of the plow beam.

A hopper 43 is supported upon the front The base of the hopper is open and is adapted to be closed by gravity dump doors 44 pivoted to the hopper and adaptedtobeclosed by rightinmu chains 45 secured to the dum 3 doors 13 i and entrained over the pulleys 46 to winding, drums 47 upon the winding shaft 48. The windingdruins 47 are connected to the winding shaft 48 by means of ratchet clutches shown in detail in Figure 12 and comprising. a pawl 49 pivoted to the winding drum' and a ratchet 5O fixed to the winding shaft and" cooperating with the pawl 49. This ratchet clutch which is releasable at will per nits of thedump of the doors without the, operation of the motor or actuating means, as will hereinafter more fully app ar Means ls prov ded for oonyeying the material loosened or excavated by the cart-l1. worl'cingelements to the hopper and includes,

lateral conveyors designated at and 56,. anchextendlng from each earth working ele ment 15 toabove the lower end of a main elevator conveyor 57 which receives the inaterlal from the lateral conveyors 55 and 5G,;andcar ries it to the hopper 43, the upper or delivery end of the main elevator conveyor extending over the upper open end of thehopper wherebyithe material upon the elevator conveyor falls by gravity from the delivery end thereof into the hopper.

The adjacent ends of the lateral conveyor and the main elevator. conveyor are sup ported by, means of brackets 58 de )ending fro h the machine frame and braced y cross bars 59. The upper end of the elevator conveyor is supported upon. standards 60 secured at their lower ends to the hopper 43. The lateral conveyors 55 and 56 and the main conveyor 57 are all of the endless type and are all driven from a common main frame of the machine, as shown in Figure 5. Theienginc shaft 66 is adapted to be connected at will by means of a clutch 67 with a drive shaft 68, a hand lever 69 serving to control the clutch 67. A countershaft 70 is journaled in suitable bearings 71 adjacent and parallel. to the engine shaft 60 and is driven from the engine shaft by suitable gearing which preferably comprises sprocket wheels 72 fixed upon the engine shaft and the countersshaft, respectively and a sprocket chain 73 trained over the sprocket wheels 72.

The traction drum 11 is driven from the countershaft, preferably by means 'of a sprocket wheel74 fixed to the counter shaft 70, a sprocket wheel 75 fixed to the trunnion of the traction drum anda sprocket chain 76 which runs over and engages the sprocket wheels 74 and 75. A suitable casing 77 enclosesthe sprocket wheel'74yand75 and the sprocket chains76.

The conveyor drive mechanism comprises a sprocket wheel 80 fixed to the countershaft and engaged by a sprocket chain 81 which runs over a sprocket wheel 82 fixed to the drive spindlcSS of the main elevator. 57 to thereby drive the main elevator con.- Veyor and also the chain 81 runs over and engages with a sprocket- 84 splined to the shaft 85 uiountedfor rotary and longitudinal slidable motion in suitable bearings 86 carried by a superstructure frame 35. .A pair of ack shafts 87 are journaled in the superstructureparallel to each other and at ions 90 and 91respectively carried by shafts.

87. This to be noted that when the pinion. 89 is engaged with the pinion 91, the pinion S8 is out of engagementwith the pinion 90 and j vice versa." The shaft 85 is controlled as to the engagement of its pinions SSand 89 with the pinions 90and 91 respectively, by means of a collar 92 fixed to the shaft 85 and having an annular groove 93 therein in which operates a fork orvoke 94 carried by onear n .ofabell cranklever 95 (see Figures 139 and 11) pivotally supported upon the superstructure and having its other arm terminating in a pin 96 operatively arranged in the slot 97 formed in the lower end of a pivoted hand lever 08. The hand lever 98 is heldwin adjusted position by means of a manually releasable spring operated detent 99 and a cooperating rack segment 100 fixed to the superstructure -3-1. It is obvious that by manipulating the hand lever 98 either of the shafts 87 may be selectively driven from the shaft 85. As more especially shown in Figure 3, the shafts ST carry at their rear ends sprocket wheels 101 and 102 which are fixed to the shafts ST and which are engaged by sprocket chains 103 and 10 1- respectively which sprocket chains also run over and en gage sprocket wheels 105 and 106, respectively, which are fixed to the spindles 107 and 108 of the lateral conveyors 56 and 56, respectively.

The means for driving the winding shaft 18 to effect power righting-up of the dump doors comprises a shaft 110 driven from the counter shaft by means of a beveled friction pinion 111 fixed to the counter shaft and a driven friction pinion 112 splined to the shaft 110 and adapted to be engaged with the drive pinion 111 by operating the clutch control lever 113. The opposite end of the shaft 110 has fixed thereto or formed thereon a worm 114: which meshes with and drives a worm wheel 115 fixed to the winding shaft 47. A casing 116 encloses the worm gearing between the shaft 110 and the winding shaft 47.

The steering control for the steering wheels comprises a hand wheel 120 secured to the upper end of the vertical shaft 121 which carries at its lower end a worm 122 driving a worm wheel 123, to the shaft or axis of which, is fixed a crank arm 124 pivotally connected to tie rods 125 which are connected at their opposite ends to the arms of the steering knuckles 127. A platform, designated at 129 is provided for the driver or operator of the machine, and when he stands on the platform. he is within easy and convenient access of the hand levers and hand wheels by means of which the various instrumentalities embodied in the machine are controlled.

A fuel tank for the power plant 130 is supported upon a suitable bracket 131 secured upon the main frame.

In operation only one earth working element is utilized at a time, and it is thrown into operation and adjusted as to cut by means of the hand wheel and hand lever 27. The dump doors of the hoppers 13 are or have previously been righted-up by throwing the clutch lever 133 so that the driven pinion 112 controlled thereby is put into engagement with the driving pinion 111. It is to be noted that by utilizing the friction gear destructive stresses are not set up in the motion transmission means between the transmission shaft and the dump doors, when the pinions are in operative engagement after the righting up operation has been completed. lVhen it is desired to advance the machine the hand lever 69 is thrown to engage the clutch 67 and connect the drive shaft to the engine shaft so as to impart motion to the traction drum by means of the transmission shaft and sprocket gearing between said transmission shaft and said traction drum. At the same time motion is imparted to the main elevator conveyor and to the proper lateral conveyor by suitably positioning of the control lever 98. During the operation of the machine the earth working element is controlled and adjusted by suitable manipulation of the hand wheel 10 and of the hand lever 27.

The earth working element 15 loosens and excavates the earth and delivers the excavated earth to the adjacent lateral conveyor which in turn carries it to the main elevator from which it is discharged into the hopper, the dump doors thereof having been previously closed. The material is carried in the hopper to the desired place and may be then dumped by simply tripping the pawls 49 from their engagement With the ratchet teeth which releases the dump doors without in any wise disturbing the motor or the motion transmission means between the motor and the winding shaft. After the material constituting the road bed has been properly distributed upon the surface of the road bed and the dump doors 44 may be utilized to effect this distributing action, the earth working elements are elevated out of engagement with the road bed by means of the hand wheels 40 and the drum 11 is then utilized to properly pack the material to the road bed.

It is to be noted that in the event of the control of the earth working elements not being properly positioned or exercised, the yoke 17 automatically comes into action and positively limits the downward movement and supports the beam of the plow.

In this manner all of the various operations incident to building or resurfacing or repairing the roads and road beds may be readily and easily carried out.

I claim:

1. In a road machine of the character described, a main frame, earth workin elements arranged below and at each side of said main frame, a hopper carried by the main frame, and means for conveying the material from said earth working elements to said hopper including lateral conveyors receiving the material from said earth working elements and extending inwardly toward the center of the machine, and a main elevator conveyor receiving the material from said lateral. conveyors and delivering it to the hopper.

In a road machine of the character de 5- scribed, a Wheeledframe, a hopper carried by said, frame, a plow arranged below and at eachside of the frame, independent adjusting means for each plow, a lateral conveyor associated with each plow, each lateral 104 conveyor being so arranged with respect to itsplow as to receive the material excavated thereby, a single elevator arranged to re eeive the material from both of the lateral conveyors and adapted to deliver such Ina- 15, terial into the hopper, and means for driving said elevator and for selectively drlv ing either of said lateral conveyors.

3. In a machine of the character described, a mam frame, a plow arranged be- 20 low andat each side of said main frame, a

hopper carried by said main frame, means for conveying the material from said plows to said hopper including a lateral conveyor for each plow arranged to receive material excavated by its plow, and a lnain elevator conveyor receiving the material from bothw of said lateral conveyors and delivering it to said hopper, a power plant, and means i for drivim said conve ors from said ower o b l a plant including a sprocket chain directly and positively driving said main elevator conveyor, :1 shiftable shaft driven from said conveyors.

KNUT CHRISTENSON. 

